Thankfully, BBC One are endeavouring to keep some of their major dramas alive.The BBC have today announced the commissioning of a third and fourth season of their hit crime drama Line of Duty. Starring Keeley Hawes and Jessica Raine, the programme's second run amassed a substantial deal of critical acclaim upon its broadcast over the course of February and March, not to mention a remarkable set of viewing figures which improved with each passing week.
All the same, the Beeb's election to offer the show not one but two new leases of life comes as something of a shock to a large extent. Despite the following it has attracted on social networks, Line of Duty has hardly fared much better than Ripper Street or The Paradise in weeks gone by, the former of which was saved by the skin of its teeth last month and the latter of which was axed outright not long before. It's only natural that BBC One aim to preserve a few of its highest-rated dramas in the years ahead (indeed, don't expect Doctor Who, Atlantis, Sherlock or Call the Midwife to go anywhere any time soon), yet since Line hardly fulfils that criterion from an objective perspective, perhaps if nothing else, this could be an indication of a turning of the tide for the channel, a necessary realization by its execs that if they axe too many of their flagship projects in one go, viewers may just start to look elsewhere for their drama intake (come to think of it, don't iTV own a certain series called Broadchurch right now...?).
Line of Duty will return for a third season of gruelling cases in Spring 2015 and a fourth season with more of the same in Spring 2016.
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